Medicine, in it’s truest form is a beautiful testament to the human condition. We are in this together. When one struggles, others support. We are fundamentally, compassionate, loving beings, deeply invested in the welfare of our fellow planet-dwellers.

Today’s medicine is undergoing a process of metamorphosis, however. We are moving from a warring posture of “Anti” pharmacology – from antihypertensives, antibiotics, and antidepressants, to a deeper understanding that we have to work with the body and recognize its connection to nature and its own evolutionary imperatives. In short, the microbiome has sent us all back to the drawing board.

If we see disease and disorder as something to “fight” and symptoms as something to suppress, then having someone up in the watchtower looking out for intruders is a wonderful idea, right? Screening and conventional preventive efforts seem to fit the bill. The sooner we can “catch” it, the sooner we can treat it, and the more likely we are to beat it.